Sandi Patty - 'Songs for the Journey'

Sandi Patty has been a mainstay in Christian music for the past 30 years, garnering her more awards than any other female Christian aritst. Songs for the Journey isn't really a "best of" type of album, but it does bring to mind the Sandi Patty of yesteryear. However, it keeps enough of a contemporary sound that it doesn't sound dated or out of place in 2008. She isn't reinventing the wheel, trying to sound young and hip enough to attract a new generation of listeners; she's simply keeping it "Sandi enough" to make that wheel she's so well known for spin with grace.

I remember the mid-80's as the Sandi Patty era in my church. It was during that time that our pastor would hand-pick songs by Sandi Patty, Amy Grant or Twila Paris each week for me and another lady to sing as special music. Songs for the Journey really brought that time back to mind. No one on the planet does hymns like Sandi and "Joyful, Joyful" and "Praise to the Lord the Almighty" made me almost feel like I was a teenager again.

Sandi's journey has been well-documented enough that we all know it hasn't been all highs with little to no lows. She explained that it was her own journey that inspired the album. "The idea for this project came from watching my kids get older. I recently began to wonder and hope about what things they will someday look back upon as being foundational in their lives," said Patty, a mother of eight. "Then I asked the same question of myself in relation to my passion for music—what are the songs that have inspired me and come to represent my journey, and how can I give those back to others as an encouragement?"

God's love and grace, something we could never earn, is what carried her through it all. "Were It Not for Grace" tells this in a way that no speech or book could.

Stand out tracks like "Through it All" with a touch of R&B, "Savior Medley" with the most delicate piano movement behind it and the fun and upbeat "Operator" help to push Songs for the Journey right over the top.

Thanks Sandi for a trip down memory lane that reminded me off all of the good of the 80's without bogging me down.